Western Kentucky had a recruit in the stands Saturday making his official visit.

San Jacinto (Texas) College-Central guard Corey Davis was at E.A. Diddle Arena for the Hilltoppers’ 79-67 loss to Old Dominion.

Davis is averaging 17.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game as a sophomore at San Jacinto, a junior college.

Davis, a 6-foot-2 native of Lafayette, La., will have two years of eligibility at whatever college he chooses. He’s also considering Houston, Louisiana Tech and New Mexico, among others, per Scout.com.

Should Davis pick WKU, he’d add to the school’s growing Louisiana connections. The Toppers have secured the signatures of highly touted Class of 2017 Louisiana high school commits Josh Anderson and Mitchell Robinson.

Assistant coaches Shammond Williams and Quannas White both have Louisiana ties, and graduate senior guard Pancake Thomas is a Baton Rouge, La., native.

Anderson and Robinson’s fellow Class of 2017 signee Taveion Hollingsworth was also in the crowd. The guard from Lexington is averaging 28.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game for reigning Kentucky state champion Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.

Monarchs handle WKU on backboards

Rick Stansbury says rebounding is the first stat he looks at after a game. The WKU coach didn’t like what he saw Saturday in that category.

Old Dominion (10-6 overall, 3-1 Conference USA) handled the Toppers 42-30 on the backboards. ODU outrebounded WKU (9-8, 3-1) 20-14 in the first half and then 22-16 in the second.

“That’s always a toughness category, first thing I look at,” Stansbury said. “That’s a toughness area, those backboards. They beat us there.”

Monarchs forward Trey Porter grabbed a game-best 13 boards. Forward Denzell Taylor and guard B.J. Stith pitched in with six and five rebounds, respectively.

Forward Justin Johnson pulled down nine rebounds for WKU, but none of his teammates tallied more than four.

The Hilltoppers went into Saturday outrebounding opponents by a slim margin of 35.2-34.7 rpg in their first 16 contests. That gap widened to 35.7-31.3 rpg in WKU’s first three C-USA games.

“As we told our guys in the scouting meetings and the film sessions, basically when you look at Western Kentucky on the boards, we see ourselves,” ODU coach Jeff Jones told the Daily News. “They’re relentless. They’ve got three or four guys that go after every rebound.

“We said we have to at least hold our own. I think we did that.”

Lomomba has tough night for Toppers

WKU guard Junior Lomomba couldn’t get going Saturday night.

The graduate senior finished with zero points, four assists and one rebound against five turnovers in the Hilltoppers’ loss. Lomomba was 0-for-2 from the field in his 30 minutes.

The Providence transfer, brought in to play point guard for WKU this season, is now averaging 6.1 points, 2.9 assists and 2.1 rebounds against 2.6 turnovers in 17 games.

Lomomba is averaging 3.8 points, 2.0 assists, 1.8 rebounds and 3.0 turnovers across the Tops’ four conference games.

Stansbury noted that Lomomba was on the floor and “did some good things” as WKU built a 46-35 lead early in the second half.

“Well, he’s just got to keep battling,” Stansbury said. “They guarded him, they got up into him, deflected several passes when he was feeding the post out front.

“You know, we know that’s been well talked about and well documented. He doesn’t make any turnovers on purpose. Everybody understands that.”

Notes

Stansbury is now 9-8 in his first year at WKU and 302-174 in his coaching career. … The Hilltoppers trail their all-time series against Old Dominion 17-16 and have a 14-5 edge in games played at Diddle Arena. … WKU has made at least one 3-pointer in 923 consecutive games dating to March 15, 1987. … Guard Pancake Thomas has scored exactly 14 points in three straight games. … Announced attendance at E.A. Diddle Arena was 4,122. Those in attendance included former WKU stars and current pro basketball players Jeremy Evans and A.J. Slaughter.

– Follow sports reporter Brad Stephens on Twitter @BradBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.